Donald Trump on Free Trade

2000 Reform Primary Challenger for President

20% tax on all imported goods

If we want jobs in America, we need to enact my 5-part tax policy: kill the death tax; lower the tax rates on capital gains & dividends; eliminate corporate taxes in order to create more American jobs; mandate a 15% tax for outsourcing jobs and a
20% tax for importing goods, and enact the 1-5-10-15 income tax plan [four brackets with a top rate of 15%].

Government needs to stop pick-pocketing your wallet. Every time it does, it slows growth and kills jobs. It's also immoral.

Source: Time to Get Tough, by Donald Trump, p. 65
, Dec 5, 2011

Fair trade instead of embarrassing deal with South Korea

I'm for free and fair trade. After all, I do business all over the world. But look at the deal Obama cut with South Korea. It was so bad, so embarrassing, that you can hardly believe anyone would sign such a thing. In theory, the agreement
Obama signed will do next to nothing to even out the trade imbalance, will further erode American manufacturing and kill more American jobs, and will wipe away the tariffs South Korea presently pays us to sell their stuff in our country.
Why would Obama agree to these terms, especially when we hold all the cards?

Why is our president signing the trade bill that the
South Koreans want him to sign instead of the one that gives us maximum advantage?

Repatriate jobs that China has been stealing

I'm sick of always reading about outsourcing. Why aren't we talking about "onshoring"? We need to bring manufacturing jobs back home where they belong. Onshoring, or "repatriation," is a way for us to take back the jobs China is stealing.
We know that China's wages are increasing. Also, China lacks certain natural resources that we have in abundance. If we exploit those two key facts, we can begin making the case to companies that they should bring their manufacturing facilities home to
America.

Onshoring has huge potential. That's why Congress need to pass Virginia Congressman Frank Wolf's bill called the "Bring Jobs Back to
America Act" (H.R.516) to help expand the onshoring movement and get American jobs back where they belong--here in America.

Embrace globalization and international markets

The important thing to consider is that more and more there is an interdependence of world economies. No one can afford to be isolationist any more.
Keep your focus global. Globalization has torn down the barriers that have formerly separated the national from the international markets.

Source: Never Give Up, by Donald Trump, p.158
, Jan 18, 2008

Renegotiate tougher & fairer trade agreements

You only have to look at our trade deficit to see that we are being taken to the cleaners by our trading partners. We need tougher negotiations, not protectionist walls around America.
We need to ensure that foreign markets are as open to our products as our country is to theirs. Our long-term interests require that we cut better deals with our world trading partners.

Source: The America We Deserve, by Donald Trump, p.145
, Jul 2, 2000

President should be nation’s trade representative

Denouncing United States trade policy, Trump promised to appoint himself as the nation’s trade representative, saying he would have no trouble serving both in that post and as president.
He then attacked the current holder of the job, Charlene Barshefky. “Who is she?” demanded Trump. “I never heard of her!”

Source: nytimes.com/library/politics
, Dec 10, 1999

World views US trade officials as ‘saps’

Trump said that US trade officials are viewed as “saps” around the world and have allowed the country to be ripped off in trade agreements. He called NAFTA a disaster and said leaders of other countries “can’t believe how easy it is to deal with the US.”
He continued, “We are known as a bunch of saps. We need our best people to negotiate against the Japanese and many other countries.” As president, he would get the nation’s top business leaders - not diplomats - to negotiate for the country.